Book Meme

Rivertyde has tagged me for the current book meme. Here are the four questions and my answers:

What is the total number of books I’ve owned? Well now, that’s extremely hard to say. I currently own around 600 books. But my book-buying life has spanned, in addition to the regular across-town moves to a new house or apartment, a move from college in Davis, California, to San Francisco; a move from SF to Philadelphia; and a move from Philly to Boston. The SF-to-Philadelphia and Philadelphia-to-Boston moves were particularly hard on the book collection. I also weed periodically. My guess is that I’ve owned at least 3,000 books.

What was the last book I bought? Literally, the last book I bought was Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton, a picture book for ages 3–7 that I bought for my 18-month-old nephew, Russell. The last book I bought for myself was a three-book splurge: Migration: Species Imperative #2, by Julie E. Czerneda; Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson; and Building Harlequin’s Moon, by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper.

What was the last book I read? That would be Elantris.

Five books that mean a lot to me: What a tough question–“that mean a lot” is really different from “that I like a lot.” Here’s today’s attempt at an answer:

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. The epitome of epic, stylish fantasy, the struggle between good and evil carried forward by the humble. Oddly enough, The Silmarillion is a real contender to take this spot.

The Bible. What can I say? Although it’s used to justify all manner of evil, it’s also a sourcebook for liberation movements and the foundational (though now often neglected) text for my religious tradition.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin. OK, adolescent self-discovery won out over the psychological insight or gender ambiguities of other titles by this great writer.

Tag, you’re it: Beppe, Philocrites (or maybe this would be more up the alley of Pseudophilocrites), Doc Smartypants, Not-so-fresh (feel free to reply here in the comments since this is way off-topic over there at tamponblog; or maybe bitch and snark need to get a jump on things), and Velveteen Rabbi. For good measure, I’ll also toss it over to Brian.